Wednesday night: Delta non-stop flight from JFK to PDX. Michelle got a bulkhead seat, and I an exit row, so she traded the guy sitting next to me.

Thursday: few calls in the morning, purchased new running shoes, hour swim at The MAC, delicious lunch at Paragon in the Pearl, haircut with Brenda, drive to Eugene, and dinner at Pizza Research Institute with Shane, Hugh, and Michelle (both the chef’s special and the pear and pesto one were superb).

Friday: Breakfast at the Glenwood, drive back to Portland, afternoon nap, Prosperity Park out and back run with mom, and family picnic dinner in the park.

Saturday: 30 minute swim at The MAC, walking in Forest Park with Andrew, lunch and a Digital Journalism Portland sesh, hanging out downtown with Michelle and her sister, and a wonderful salmon dinner at home.

Relaxing weekend was just what I needed. Next trip I’m bringing my nice camera.

Arrived a few minutes late to Digital Journalism Camp, organized by Abraham Hyatt, and these are my notes from the first session about news entrepreneurship in Portland. Steve Woodward and Carolyn Duncan, of the Portland Ten, led the session.

Steve Woodward of Nozzl Media argues that the drop in newspaper revenue is a metrics problem. Newspapers need to work more with metrics and be able to prove their value such that they can reengage their advertisers. The tools for metrics in print are much less than the tools for metrics online.

Discussion about Perez Hilton. Carolyn Duncan asks “who the hell was this guy three years ago?” Chuckles from the audience as someone asks “who the hell is this guy now?” The same guy asking that question follows up with “if you want to be in this business, trust is the word. If you don’t have trust, you’re not going to make a dollar.”

Pete Forsyth on trust and citing sources on Wikipedia: “you want to have a clear, transparent editorial process.” The producer of the content has to adhere to a published set of standards that others can audit.

Costs of WOPR outweigh the benefits – Daily Emerald
The Daily Emerald Editorial Board argues that the environmental consequences of the Western Oregon Plan Revisions, a plan to increase logging on “more than 2 million acres of public land” including old-growth, are far more significant than the short term monetary benefits.

6 Newspaper sections rendered obsolete by the web – 10,000 Words
Argues that there are at least 6 sections “rendered obsolete” by the web, which I think opens an interesting discussion about the newspaper itself. One conclusion is that, if newspapers tank, all we really lose is the local hardball news. Both the post and the comment thread are worth reading.

Web Sites That Dig for News Rise as Watchdogs – The New York Times
The good news: there are online-only news organizations springing up to take on the responsibility of investigative journalism. The semi-bad news: there isn’t enough advertising revenue to make them financially sustainable (many are non-profit and foundation-supported).

Haiti Can’t Face More Defeats – IPS News
In short, the four hurricanes which hit Haiti this year didn’t help at all with rebuilding efforts. Haiti needs a serious cash infusion for even medium term food security and environmental stability.

Every year, with this being the fourth, I try to get away for at least a weekend and join my friends at Cove Palisades State Park. Spearheaded by the Lofgren family, it’s a grand time of wakeboarding, beach, and sun. At dinner Saturday night, I finally pulled myself together enough to make a few images (largely at the urging of everyone else).

Colin’s stubble is the new look, kind of like sagging pants.

Collin Sherwood Elwyn is one of those friends I’ve had since at least middle school, if not elementary school. I think we played both soccer and basketball together at one point, but it’s fuzzy trying to think back that far.

Colin’s stubble is the new look, kind of like sagging pants.

For dinner that night, we had pizza from the grill, perfected after many years of trial and error. I can remember back to the good ol’ days when we tried to cook it over the fire and ended up making calzones. The secret, as it stands, is to coat the dough in olive oil to prevent burning. Just reminisce of all of the dinners we had, though, before we figured that out.

Forrest takes a bite out of some pretty stellar pizza cooked, of course, on a Weber bar-b-que.